The Association Between Political Violence and the Connection Between Bullying and Suicidality Among Palestinian Youth

Abstract

We examined the association between protracted political violence and the connection between bullying and suicidality among Palestinian adolescents. Data were collected from a representative sample of Palestinian students (N = 5,713) from 100 schools in the West Bank and East Jerusalem who completed an in-class survey. Students who were victims of bullying or bully victims who were exposed to political violence were at higher risk for suicide attempts compared to students who were victims of bullying or bully victims but not exposed to political violence. Political violence moderated the association between bullying and suicide attempts after controlling for socio demographic and other mental health variables.

Suicidal Behaviors Among Ukrainian College Students: the Role of Substance Use, Religion, and Depression

“…In the present study with college students, the prevalence of suicide ideation was three times higher and the prevalence of suicide attempts was two times higher than in the 2002 Ukrainian national sample from Bromet et al (2007) study. Traumatic events have been linked with increased suicidality in previous research (e.g., Abdeen et al 2018). Several political crises have taken place in Ukraine since 2002, including the Orange Revolution of 2004, the Revolution of Dignity of 2014, and ongoing military conflict in Eastern Ukraine (Burlaka et al 2018).…”

“…Among females, the rate increased from 4.0 per 100,000 in 1999 to 5.8 per 100,000 in 2014 (Curtin et al 2016). Similarly, another study, which included data from 14,738 suicide cases (age group 15-24) in 15 European countries, documented that suicide rates were significantly higher for males (5.5-35.1) than for females (1.3-8.5) (Värnik et al 2009). Moreover, a study in South Korea, which included suicide rates from 2006 to 2008, also revealed that suicide rate was higher in males than in females; however, the rate was also found to be higher among older people than among younger people (Cheong et al 2012).…”

An Ecological Study on the Spatially Varying Relationship between County-Level Suicide Rates and Altitude in the United States

“…Figure 1 shows the suicide rates (smoothed and age-adjusted) in the contiguous U.S. counties from 2008 to 2014 using natural break classification [ 20 ]. Overall, suicide rates were much higher in the western counties compared to those in the other regions.…”

“…However, risk factors may be different across geographic regions, and risk factors may also change over time. For instance, political violence, an uncommon risk factor for suicide in adolescents, is reportedly associated with suicide among Palestinian youths [ 20 ] and periodical economic recession was also found to be associated with elevated suicide rates [ 21 , 22 ].…”

The Association of Bullying and Suicidality: Does it Affect the Pediatric Population?

“…Reports from Israel, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latin-America [6], and across the continents consistently show how disastrous bullying involvement can be [31]. Exposure to the country's political violence intensifies the primary problem [32]. These youth groups, living in a geographical location who always experience war, should be protected, and strategies must be developed to help them.…”